Principal Investigator(s):Dykstra, Robert R., State University of New York-Albany

Summary:

The primary objective of this data collection was to
provide a quantitative underpinning for the analysis of Northern
racial attitudes in the United States during the Civil War era. The
data contain the results of the three popular referenda on Black civil
equality held in 1857, 1868, and 1880 in the state of Iowa: the first
just prior to the onset of the Civil War, the second following the
Civil War, and the third coming at the close of the Reconstruction
period. In order to provide a mo... (more info)

The primary objective of this data collection was to
provide a quantitative underpinning for the analysis of Northern
racial attitudes in the United States during the Civil War era. The
data contain the results of the three popular referenda on Black civil
equality held in 1857, 1868, and 1880 in the state of Iowa: the first
just prior to the onset of the Civil War, the second following the
Civil War, and the third coming at the close of the Reconstruction
period. In order to provide a more comprehensive political context for
these well-spaced referenda, the data files contain all relevant
annual elections occurring in Iowa between August 1848 and June 1882,
capturing the period of time beginning with the first elections
involving antislavery candidates through the end of Reconstruction. In
addition, the data contain the results of various other referenda,
including banking and liquor prohibition referenda voted upon during
the time period. Parts 1 and 2 contain county-level data for all 99
Iowa counties. Part 1, County File: Elections and Referenda, contains
the outcomes for the various elections and referenda that were put to
the vote in Iowa during the mid- to late-1800s. Part 2, County File:
Miscellaneous, contains various characteristics describing the voting
Iowan population including religion and occupation data. Parts 3 and 4
contain township-level data. The data contain results from 186 of 292
Iowa townships that had surviving 1857 referenda returns. Of the 186,
127 townships had records for all three of the referenda regarding the
rights of Blacks (1857, 1868, and 1880). As a result, Part 3, Township
File: Referenda, contains the outcomes, by township, for the three
civil rights referenda voted on in the state of Iowa. Part 4, Township
File: Voters, contains hand counted voter birthplace data keyed to
each of the three referenda.

Access Notes

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Unit of Observation:
All politically organized counties (eventually 99 in
number) 186 townships for the 1857 referendum, and 127 townships
longitudinally linked to all three referenda.

Universe:
Iowa, and by inference the rest of the Middle West, as
well as the Northeast. (There were few native Iowans in the voting
population in this frontier period. Virtually everybody had
in-migrated from other states or from Europe.)

Data Types:
event/transaction data

Data Collection Notes:

(1) Parts 3 and 4 contain township-level data. There
were a total of 292 counties in Iowa, however data concerning the 1857
referenda on Black suffrage was only available for 186 counties.
These counties are sometimes referred to within the study as the "186
subfile." Furthermore, of these 186 counties found in Parts 3 and 4,
127 of them contained data for all three of the Black suffrage
referenda that were voted upon in 1857, 1868, and 1880. These counties
are referred to as the "127 subfile." Furthermore, of these 186
counties found in Parts 3 and 4, 127 of them contained data for all
three of the Black suffrage referenda that were voted upon in 1857,
1868, and 1880. These counties are referred to as the "127 subfile."
(2) Per the author, since the estimated "Nonvoters" variables are
arithmetic calculations, they occasionally are represented as minus
numbers. This simply means that the number of actual voters exceeded
the number of estimated eligible voters. These negative numbers are
usually small and do not pose a systematic error in the data. (3) The
author also points out that it will be seen that some entries take the
form of large even numbers (e.g., 200, 300, 700). These are obviously
estimates made by county-seat election officials for losing candidates
in lopsided elections. At the time, there were no partisan
poll-watchers demanding an exact count. Such entries are not serious
errors, since they are not systematic. In any event, they are, given
present knowledge, the only extant data, and can only be utilized or
excluded as the user sees fit. (4) The author notes that the data does
not include the sometimes useful "Ineligibles" variable, employed in
comparisons of any two sets of election data, that designates new
voters coming into the electorate since the first of the compared
elections. It is calculated by subtracting the first election's
Estimated Eligible Voters (EEV) from that of the second. (5) For the
purposes of this study, voters are defined as adult, male citizens of
the United States. (6) Voter birthplace data were used by the author
as an indicator of individual ethnocultural orientation.

THE CENSUS RETURNS OF THE DIFFERENT COUNTIES FOR THE
STATE OF IOWA FOR 1856, Iowa City: 1857.

Iowa Census of 1856 manuscript

United States Census of 1870 manuscript

United States Census of 1880 manuscript

newspapers

county records

local histories

Response Rates:
While not exactly a response rate, the author notes
that the data include birthplace records for 109,510 individual voters
(i.e., of White male United States citizens aged 21 and over for 1856
and 1870, and father's birthplace of immigrant male citizens in
1880). The "186 subfile" represents 31 percent of all Iowa voters in
1857, while the "127 subfile" accounts for 21 percent in 1856, 13
percent in 1870, and 10 percent in 1880.